Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: dealing with increasing costs and monthly dues?

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Jul 19, 2024, at 12:46 AM, Sylvie at Hotmail <s_kashdan [at] hotmail.com> 
> wrote:

> This is the Jackson Place Co-Housing community in Seattle, Washington. Our 
> community is about 23 years old and we have 27 households [snip] We are in 
> the midst of discussions about how to handle the increasing costs of 
> maintenance for our buildings and landscapes. [snip] We seem to be reaching 
> our limits as to how much we can decrease our budgetary requirements but also 
> do justice to maintaining our spaces and keeping a healthy reserve fund.
> 
> *Our question to you is this:  Are there things you are doing or have done to 
> help to alleviate the pressures of your increasing costs? As with any 
> brain-storming session, remember that there are no bad ideas to offer! We are 
> all ears!*

As a message to those who will someday reach this same stage — this is why it 
is very important to begin saving before you move in. There should be an 
initial amount built into the construction costs to start the Reserve Fund. I 
have no info on how much that should be but every thousand dollars will grow 
exponentially in 20-25 years when you reach the first crunch of necessary major 
repairs and replacements. Think in terms of cars that need 100,000 mile major 
maintenance and 200,000 major major maintenance. It’s part of the definition of 
“car.” They aren’t repairs required because someone did something wrong.

As for savings we have implemented, the savings are in the eye of the beholder 
(See #12) but I’ll give you my opinion:

1. We replaced our roof 2-3 years early so we could install solar panels and 
not remove them later to replace the roof. The original roof had a ~20 year 
expected life but we replaced it with one that will last 50 years. 

2. We have several members who are conservative with money, but creative as 
well. In figuring out the roof/solar panel strategy, they used funds from the 
Reserves, more than was allotted for the roof, to pay for the roof and help pay 
for the solar panels. What we would have spent for electricity was used to 
reimburse the reserve funds. DC was not very decided about what would happen 
when we produced more electricity than we used. At a minimum, we would have 
energy credits that we could use when the panels were insufficient or not 
working. Or we would be paid for the surplus energy we produced. We have 
received cash payments in some years but it is unpredictable how this will 
work. (That’s the most recent thing I’ve heard) The solar things are different 
for each city/state.

3. Deferred maintenance costs more money because it ends up in replacement. It 
is much cheaper to maintain than replace. We have been able to defer painting 
our fiber cement board exterior because it has worn well — and the painter said 
it didn’t need painting yet. The current painting was done with 2 coats because 
we had deferred the painting by years and it was streaking. We also wanted to 
change colors and 2 coats are said to last 10 years instead of the usual 7. 
Projected savings.

4. One area I would like to research more is the balance of cost, long term 
maintenance, and sustainability of flooring. The common house floors get a lot 
of use. A major use is the delivery of packages with wheeled carts of various 
sizes moving from the front door to the mailbox area in the back. There are now 
so many delivery services it is hard to count them. And more and more people 
are ordering online so many boxes get delivered. What is the most sustainable 
and inexpensive flooring?

5. One preventive measure is to plan for future costs. We added a metal fence 
around one area of our land. So that year we also increased deposits to the 
Reserve Funds to start paying for the replacement. 

6. A huge benefit comes from our Resales Pod for the work they do for people 
selling units. They provide counseling, information, sample flyers, schedule 
open houses, etc. We do not use real estate agents but sellers are asked to 
consider what their realtor fee would be and to make a donation to the Special 
Projects Fund. Realtor fees can be as high as 7% (?) so the majority of sellers 
have made substantial donations. Before that we had no funds for capital 
improvements, special anniversary celebrations, or nice things we just wanted 
(like upgrades to the TVs).

7. Another thought about the mail room. People don’t want the mailroom near the 
front door for fear that it would be easier to steal packages or things left in 
our open cubbies. It would save wear and tear to have the mail area next to and 
entrance or exit, however, but hidden. And it has to be accessible. We have a 
back entrance by the mailboxes that the USPS uses but it has stairs. It’s 
easier for delivery drivers to walk a block through the front of the community 
to avoid the stairs.

8. When we wanted a short walkway from the parking lot to a gate, we hired an 
expert at installing permeable pavers to help 3-4 of our members put in the 
walkway. He also provided a piece of equipment. He may also have been able to 
purchase the pavers for us at the contractor’s discount.

9. Daniel Pink who writes on motivational theory and has done very interesting 
things to help cities reduce costs. He uses games and focuses on making 
behaviors rewarding in and of themselves not exercises to earn rewards. I don’t 
think we use games or challenges enough. They take thought to design and may 
not work for cohousing because most of the things that cost money can only be 
replaced with labor and most labor is already in use. One example I remember 
was for a tourist town that had a main drag that was knee deep in litter by the 
end of _every_ evening. Mostly disposable paper from food and drinks. Pink 
designed a structure that flashed lights or played music whenever anyone 
deposited trash/recyclables. No more litter because people picked it up to see 
the display.

10. We recently had to close our compost bins because rats and mice had taken 
up residence. We now have a commercial service. They can recycle many more 
things (hotter process) but they also come with a monthly charge. We increased 
recycling but also added cost.

11. We now have native plants on far more of the property so we purchase fewer 
plants and do less watering. But that saves no more than a few hundred dollars 
a year. Sustainable practices are not always less expensive.

12. And a last caution, residents have opposing values in deciding what is 
smart savings and what is lowering living standards. That something is cheap 
and can be done quickly is not always appreciated by others who want to 
maintain a more middle-class look.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org